KASHIFU Inuwa, the director‑general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), urged Nigerians and stakeholders on Thursday to view digital transformation as an ‘infinite game’ rather than a race with a fixed finish line.
Addressing the 13th BusinessDay’s CEO Forum on “Nigeria: From Reform to Recovery,” he stressed that every reform milestone must serve as a fresh starting point for deeper, more inclusive economic growth.
Recounting NITDA’s evolution since its 2001 inception (then NICA), Inuwa reminded delegates that fewer than 500,000 Nigerians then had access to computers, and ICT contributed under 0.5 percent to GDP. Today, over 130 million citizens are online, and the sector accounts for more than 14.4 percent of real GDP, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for Q4 2024.
“It is about thriving continuously, not about reaching a finish line where we can dust ourselves off and be happy,” he stated.
He also pointed to a series of landmark policies, the 2007 NITDA Act, the expanded 2012 IT policy, and the 2019 paradigm shift towards leveraging technology for economic activities, as building blocks.
Inuwa highlighted President Bola Tinubu’s 2020 pronouncement that economic diversification and inclusivity would guide the administration’s agenda, with digitisation, industrialisation and innovation elevated to a key priority.
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To underpin this vision, NITDA crafted a Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan centred on five pillars, which are knowledge, policy, infrastructure, innovation & entrepreneurship, and trade.
“Knowledge is the foundation upon which countries build a robust, sustainable economy,” Inuwa observed, adding that “today’s ubiquitous data, unlimited connectivity, and massive processing power mean your limitation is your imagination.”
On regulation, the DG advocated a dual approach: rule‑based frameworks for certainty, and non‑rule‑based for experimentation.
“It’s like installing traffic lights only after studying traffic patterns,” he said, underscoring the need to align digital policies with Nigeria’s values and culture to ensure responsible deployment of technologies such as AI and blockchain.
Citing digital‑literacy targets, Inuwa noted the 2020 National Digital Literacy Framework aimed for 99 per cent literacy by that year; current goals include 70 per cent by 2027 and 95 per cent by 2030. Initiatives span informal‑sector training, integration of digital skills into the national curriculum (in partnership with the Ministry of Education), and upskilling senior civil servants.
He called for a united ecosystem: “Government sets policy and builds infrastructure, but private enterprise, academia, entrepreneurs, and risk capital are the true change‑makers.”
Inuwa challenged Nigeria’s tech community to treat each reform as a launchpad for the next wave of innovation, reinforcing his core message that continuous improvement, not a one‑off recovery, is the surest path to sustained, inclusive growth.
